Array Labs Raises $20 Million to Scale Radar-based Earth Observation Satellites

Our Bureau - : Jan 7, 2026 - : 6:47 pm

Array Labs, a Silicon Valley start-up developing radar-based Earth observation satellites, has raised $20 million in Series A funding as it moves to expand synthetic aperture radar (SAR) into commercial and national security markets. The funding round, announced on 5...

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The funding round, announced on 5 January, was led by Catapult Ventures, with participation from Washington Harbour Partners, Kompas VC and a group of new and existing investors that includes Y Combinator, Maiora Capital, Animal Capital, Aera VC, Cultivation Capital and Clearance Ventures. The round brings Array’s total funding to $35 million.

Targeting Radar’s Cost Barrier

Array is seeking to address one of the longstanding constraints of space-based radar systems: cost. Synthetic aperture radar has traditionally relied on highly customised hardware and limited production runs, keeping prices high and restricting adoption largely to government customers.

Chief executive and co-founder Andrew Peterson said the company is applying manufacturing approaches drawn from consumer electronics and telecommunications to radar hardware, with the aim of enabling large-scale production without reducing performance.

The company’s strategy is based on building radar systems that can be manufactured at commercial price points while retaining the resolution and reliability required for defence, intelligence and industrial users.

A Distributed Approach to SAR

Unlike conventional SAR satellites that operate independently, Array plans to deploy clusters of small satellites flying in coordinated formations. These spacecraft are designed to image the same area from multiple angles, allowing the company to combine the data into three-dimensional terrain and object models.

According to the company, this distributed architecture enables faster revisit rates and improved 3D characterisation compared with traditional single-satellite radar systems. SAR sensors are valued for their ability to collect imagery regardless of weather or lighting conditions, making them particularly useful for military, intelligence and infrastructure monitoring applications.

Multiple Business Lines

Array is positioning itself as both a hardware supplier and a data provider. Its business model includes selling radar payloads to satellite manufacturers and defence primes, delivering sovereign satellite systems to

customers that want to own and operate their own spacecraft, and producing data products from its own satellite constellation.

The company said it has secured around six contracts with U.S. defence and intelligence organisations over the past two years, reflecting early government interest in its distributed radar approach.

In the commercial sector, Array said it has signed multi-year agreements linked to its first operational radar cluster with customers in mining, infrastructure monitoring and embodied artificial intelligence, a field that includes robotics and autonomous systems requiring detailed environmental data.

Technology Milestones and Next Steps

Array launched two demonstration satellites in 2024 to validate its radar architecture in orbit. A second demonstration mission is planned for 2026, with the Series A funding earmarked for expanding engineering and production teams, completing flight qualification of its radar panels and preparing for deployment of the company’s first operational satellite cluster.

Partnerships in Defence and Geospatial Markets

The start-up has also moved to integrate its technology into established defence and geospatial ecosystems. In 2024, Array announced a collaboration with Raytheon and Umbra Space to develop advanced three-

dimensional Earth observation products, including a radar-derived offering known as Site3D.

Separately, Array signed an agreement with Maxar Intelligence, now operating as Vantor, to integrate Array’s radar-based 3D data into Vantor’s global terrain products.

As competition intensifies in the Earth observation market, Array’s approach reflects a broader shift toward distributed satellite architectures and lower-cost sensing systems, particularly as demand grows for persistent, all-weather monitoring across both commercial and security domains.

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